


The sea is calling

by Lylie_lyn



Series: Lylie's Oneshots [2]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fanart, Modern AU, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 17:23:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14753129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lylie_lyn/pseuds/Lylie_lyn
Summary: The ocean is unpredictable, it can give or take off everything depending on its mood... and depending on dreams.A Mermaid AU of a journey that might change fates.





	The sea is calling

“What you’re doing is suicide!”.  
There were no more free tables at the White Cat Inn that afternoon. Some sailors were singing, covering the soft chatting of the other people in the warm afternoon sunlight that was coming in from the big windows facing the sparkling sea.  
A sleepy white cat on the windowsill, the mascotte of the inn that gave it its name, suddenly woke up with Mia’s shout. The fair-haired woman was sitting at one of the tables next to the window in front of a man in his thirties, a spark in his amber eyes that was opposite to the worried shadow in Mia’s green ones.  
“The archipelago is a strategic point where we could have the control over the open ocean. It would allow us to prevent direct attacks to the shores and the city”.  
“Cullen, do you understand that no ship has returned from those islands, only their remains? It’s too risky!”.  
“Someone has returned, Mia”. Mia angrily shook her head, waving her golden curls.  
“Yes, indeed. But they went straight to the city’s asylum, writhing in pain and madness! Everyone says that there are beasts, monsters living there. You know that I’m not the type who believes in everybody’s rumours but this time, it is different. It’s not only a common belief nor a legend”.  
The memory of a pair of sailors that once came back from those islands emerged in her mind. She was at the port the day when the waves brought them back, desperately grabbing a wooden plank. Mia couldn’t forget how despairing and full of grief were their eyes, the wounds made by claws that soaked their clothes with blood. Those men never recovered, their delirious status allowed them only to cry and talk nonsense for days. They were heard talking about mermaids too, but it was hard to distinguish what was real and what was the product of their insanity.  
She dropped her head to hide her eyes clouded with tears until Cullen reached her hands and held them in his.  
“We have planned everything from A to Z. The ship is one of the strongest caravels you may get and can resist through the tropical storms, then the quantity of food and water allows us to survive for more than planned. My men are well prepared and ready to face any obstacle on our path”.  
Mia’s brother had lots of virtues. Cullen was handsome, strong, charismatic but among all of that, he was stubborn. She already knew that there was no way to change his mind.  
“Captain Rutherford!”. Cullen and Mia turned their heads towards the man who approached them, who took the word. “Everything is ready, Captain”.  
“Thank you, Lieutenant Michael. Give me a moment”.  
“Yes, sir”.  
The Lieutenant silently went out of the inn, and Cullen turned back to his sister.  
“Come, let’s go out of here”. Cullen stood up and left some coins on the table to pay their drinks, then waited for Mia to stand up and follow him.

A soft wind blew, bringing the sound of seagulls along with the saline perfume of the sea mixed with the sweeter scent of tropical fruit. There were merchants selling coconuts, mangoes and papayas, other selling fish, women who crafted necklaces and earrings and embellished clothes with shells, pearls and other treasures coming from the sea who lifted their glances in front of Captain Rutherford walking on the dock. His uniform, with its long blue jacket embroidered with gold and its white trousers interrupted by the dark leather boots, was impeccable and added charm to his well-proportioned traits, his blonde hair and bright eyes, catching everyone’s attention.  
The ship had docked at the last pier of the port, where a lot of men were busy preparing the missing details.  
He stopped. He didn’t feel brave enough to tell his sister that she was right, that the thrill in his eyes was only hiding his fear of departing for lands from where no man came back, that the mission would have been suicide just like she predicted. The stories he heard about the creatures that infested those islands haunted him every night, but he couldn’t bear to worry her more than she already was.  
“Mia. Please, look at me”, he began trying to catch her attention. Her green eyes were wandering over the shiny surface of the ocean, lost in thoughts, but her brother’s warm voice woke her up. Cullen turned towards her and put his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes still shining with tears. “Listen. I can’t promise you to come back safely, but every journey across the ocean is dangerous enough not to allow me to make such a promise”.  
“I know this isn’t simply a mission but an order you couldn’t refuse, and I’m sorry if I called you into question. It’s not your fault”.  
Cullen hugged his sister tightly with her head of flyaway curls almost reaching his shoulder. Brother and sister were alone, no one else in their family was left.  
“I’ll be back, Mia. I want to come back, succeeding”. Mia stepped back and looked into her brother’s amber eyes with hope, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
“It’s more important for you to come back safely. It’s all I’m asking”.

The thick darkness of a night coldly lit by a moon that appeared from time to time was nearly palpable out of the windows, pressing against the glass as it was going to shatter it. Cullen was sitting at his desk with books left wide open on its surface and a diary in his hands, while the ship’s rolling and the warm light of the candles and the lanterns soothed him.  
He knew that reading about mermaids another time wouldn’t help him to win the fear of the unknown stuck in his stomach. Cullen had always been excited to travel to the unknown, to reach and explore new and beautiful lands with their colours, shapes, the varied flora and fauna but this mission felt like a curse to him. Mia was right. Cullen knew about the fate of the men who had returned from the islands, covered in blood and drowning in madness. Nothing good could await him at his destination.  
A mermaid drawn with charcoal was staring at him from the yellowish page of the diary. There, the illustration showed the beauty of those women-like creatures in a beastly form, claws on her hands, the line of gills on her neck, the mouth twisted in a sneer showing her long and sharp teeth like those of an abyssal fish. On the next page, some brief paragraphs described mermaids as aggressive and very territorial, like legends used to tell.  
Cullen started to read those dense black lines when the sound of a splash and the loud voices of his men reached his office. Wondering what was happening he left the diary atop of the books on the desk and unwillingly stood up, took one of the lanterns and went outside, snorting.  
The crew was standing on the ship deck, leaning on the wavy, black water mixed to the night sky with the moon hidden behind fast running clouds. Cullen walked towards them in his strong walk, the wind blowing against his face.  
“What’s happening here?”, he asked loudly, the firm voice of the Captain made the men fall silent and turn towards him. Before anyone could answer, a voice asked for help shouting from the water.  
“It’s Sam, Captain Rutherford. He fell from the ship!”. It was Lieutenant Michael who spoke for the whole crew.  
The Captain rose an eyebrow, uncertain of what to believe of that situation. He opened his mouth to ask how it was possible for one of his men to fall into those waters like that but decided not to question the fact.  
“What are you waiting? Don’t stay there stock-still like that, help him!”, Cullen shouted. “Throw him a net, move!”.  
“Yes, Sir!”. He leaned on the railing and looked down while the men were loudly taking a net that could be big enough to carry a grown-up man. But Cullen saw the shadow of something else moving under the water surface, and Sam disappeared in the blink of an eye.  
The crew finally managed to throw a net into the ocean, which sunk quickly in the black liquid. Cullen stood just a pair of steps back from them but as soon as the rope stretched he approached to have full control of the situation.  
“I got him!”, cried Lieutenant Michael who was holding the rope and with the help of the others’ arms pulled it up. A surprised expression appeared on his face when he realised that the net was too light to carry a man of Sam’s size. As soon as it emerged from the ocean’s depths, it caught Cullen’s attention; who or what had become the prisoner of the net was moving, writhing in its attempt to flee that cage crafted with ropes and knots.  
Others rushed to help their fellows holding the net over the wooden floor of the deck but when they approached the almost shapeless web a non-human cry so acute it made the men quickly cover their ears, burst out of it.  
“Captain Rutherford, it’s…”, began the Lieutenant when Cullen moved towards the fishing net, but he didn’t listen to him and rose the lantern to light up the scene. A royal blue tail ending in a large, white caudal fin adorned with blue and golden edges dangled out of the net. A mermaid.  
She was gripping her body into her arms, fingers ending in claws that held tight her naked shoulders trying to protect herself and on her face, framed by black hair, deep blue eyes were staring at the Captain’s amber ones, scared of all those humans surrounding her.  
The flash of a lightning lit the ship and the silence got violently interrupted by an aggressive thunder. No one could hear Sam’s voice anymore, only the waves crashing against the ship, the waterdrops falling from the mermaid’s tail together with the raindrops starting to fall from the sky and the sound of the wind blowing stronger. Confusion invaded the Captain’s mind in front of that fascinating, yet dangerous creature but his eyes caught the slight movement of one of his men pulling a knife out of its sheath. The mermaid let out a second, frightened cry, understanding the threat upon her.  
“We should kill it. I bet this _monster_ has slain Sam”. Cullen’s brows drew together when the man hissed and accentuated that words. It was no monster for him, only a creature who was different from humans.  
“No, we won’t. If you wish for the rage of mermaids to fall upon us, that’s none of my intentions”. The Captain's voice was firm, and he turned toward those who were holding the net. “I want you to free the mermaid immediately”.  
Lieutenant Michael immediately followed his Captain’s order and, helped by other men, brought the net over the now rough waters and higher waves. The mermaid’s eyes didn’t leave the Captain for a moment until when, lit by another lightning, the men opened the net and let her slip out of it, diving into the ocean.  
“It seems we’ll have to deal with a storm tonight. I want you all to stay focused”, Cullen shouted to his crew when all the men went back and paid attention to him. “Move on now!”  
“Yes, Captain!”.

A mixture of sounds reached Cullen’s ears. Waves softly hitting a shore, lots of different birds singing, a seagull. He felt the velvety sand under his body wearing his now ripped uniform, warm water touching his feet and the heat of the sunrays kissing his skin, something pressing against his shoulder. Was he dreaming? Was he _dying_?  
Cullen slowly opened his eyes and coughed, the feeling of saline water was still grasping his throat, and his face reached by sunlight filtered by the leaves of a palm. The ocean, calm and of a vibrant light blue turning to green, was widening in front of him, following the bending of the white shore where he was laying and striking its waves against a cliff covered with palms at the end of the beach. He snorted and laid his head of blonde, wet curls on the sand closing his eyes for a moment.  
Cullen let himself slip into the feeling of awakening memories. The storm in the night was so violent that the height of the waves went beyond the masts, an orchestra of lightning, thunders, wind and water hitting the ship together and making it almost impossible for him and his men to face that fierce squall. Their ship finally collided with something, rocks perhaps, taking water quickly and the waves laid it down on its side. Cullen and other men of the crew fell into rough waters, desperately looking for something to grab and survive the rage of the ocean. The thought of death crossed his mind multiple times during those unending minutes when arms suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back from the depth’s embrace.  
He opened his eyes another time, realising he was alive but at what price? Nothing on that shore was familiar, no sign of life except for him and seagulls flying in the sky or a crab rapidly crossing the beach.  
Cullen slowly let the air out of his lungs and rose the hands to hide his face in despair with tears already shining in his eyes when his forearm unexpectedly touched something soft on his shoulder, making him lower his gaze.  
It was a tangled mass of black hair that moved with his touch and made a lazy and barely hearable sound similar to a yawn then the head left his shoulder and lifted. Those dark waves fell and revealed the sleepy expression on the face they hid.  
Cullen’s amber eyes met peaceful ones of a shade of blue as light as thin ice that looked at him curiously. He followed the line that shaped the figure prone by his side, the hair leaving space to the neck with visible gills and the naked back perpendicularly split by a white spiky dorsal fin framed with a golden line. The pinky skin fused with royal blue scales on her waist that upholstered the long and slim tail, ending with that white and blue caudal fin moved by the waves on the beach. In the sunlight, her tail glowed in gold.  
His heart began to race when he identified the mermaid his crew captured the night before and he stiffened when a shiver crossed his spine. There he smelt the scent of death another time as soon as the mermaid rose her hand, it would have taken her claws just a second to rip his throat. Cullen closed his eyes and waited for the lethal scratch but instead, her fingertips timidly caressed his cheek.  
“Calm down. I don’t want to kill you”. A voice soft as velvet reached Cullen’s ears like a gentle touch. He looked at the creature another time.  
“Y-you… speak my language?”. The tone of his question sounded as shocked as his expression.  
“I heard many men speaking”, she answered in an uncertain accent, she clearly had difficulties to pronounce words and express her thoughts. Cullen collected his energies and sat on the sand. A slight headache made him feel confused, that entire situation was almost impossible to believe. Still, the mermaid followed his movement and sat too, staying by his side. Her calm and curious eyes had no intention to abandon him.  
Cullen noticed how she had no sign of the monstrosities shown in the diary that he read the night before. Her features were perfect, no abyssal fish teeth peeped out from her mouth nor claws were on her hands. But he was certain she had claws when he saw her for the first time on the ship…  
“How did I get here? Do you know it?”. The mermaid nodded, carefully putting her hands on his temples and suddenly pictures appeared in his mind.  
Cullen saw himself into dark waters, drowning. The mermaid quickly swam towards him and firmly grabbed him, bringing his unconscious body to the surface to allow him to get some air. She was unbelievably strong and managed to carry him to the nearest island which still was far from the sinking ship. Only when she finally reached that shore she let herself get some rest, falling asleep next to the man.  
“You made a great effort bringing me here. Why did you do that?”, he lastly asked taking his glance away and setting it on the clear tropical green sea in front of them. Saved by the mermaid his crew wanted to slaughter even if there was no evidence that it was her who killed Sam. Thinking about it a second time reminded him of those sad racist posters he often saw affixed to walls in his city, ready to blame people who were not guilty only for their different traits.  
“Men on your ship wanted to kill me. You told them to free me. You saved me”. The mermaid’s eyes went beyond her attractiveness, they were clear and sincere. She cupped his face approaching Cullen until their foreheads touched and the man suddenly felt relaxed. “Thank you”, she added. The mermaid had the saline perfume of the sea mixed to a sweeter scent he couldn’t describe. She slowly approached a little more and their lips went so close they almost touched…

“Arry? …Arry?!”.  
A warm male voice shattered the vision of the Captain and the mermaid kissing and Artemis opened her eyes.  
She was laying on a beach chair, the warm light of the late afternoon sun lit the landscape in front of her: the ocean and the relaxing music of its waves, the almost empty beach, a book abandoned on the sand and her notebook with pencils on her legs. Then there was Cullen in front of her in his dark red swimsuit and his toned body bronzed by the sun in contrast with his golden hair. He laughed in front of her confused sleepy face that accompanied a massive yawn.  
“You have slept for hours. I hope you had sweet dreams”. Artemis wished to answer that she had sweet dreams indeed, that he was the captain of a ship and she was a beautiful mermaid. A slight disappointment hit her when she saw her favourite blue bikini instead of that wonderful tail.  
“I had sweet dreams, thank you for asking”, she answered after another yawn that made Cullen giggle.  
“I hoped you would join me for a dive or two”.  
Artemis nodded in the end, it sounded like a good idea to properly wake up from her nap. She stood up and left her notebook on the beach chair, chasing after Cullen who ran towards the ocean.  
She left the notepad opened on its last page, where a sketch of a mermaid peacefully smiled to anyone who looked at her.

_This ficlet now has its artwork! Credits to Kawereen._


End file.
